


Not Without Sanji

by ElAlmaDelMar



Series: A/B/O/tober 2020 [17]
Category: One Piece
Genre: A whole lot of words about food, Alpha Luffy, Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Claiming Bites, I mean it's Luffy so, M/M, Omega Sanji, binge-eating is a way of life, mentions of starvation and binge-eating, whole cake island
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-17
Updated: 2020-10-17
Packaged: 2021-03-08 22:41:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,094
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27074404
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ElAlmaDelMar/pseuds/ElAlmaDelMar
Summary: Finally, when the roaring emptiness was sated and Luffy felt his strength come back, he reached out and snagged Sanji around the waist, pulling him in close and rubbing his grease-covered cheek against Sanji's chest — ignoring the yelp of protest aboutyou're fucking up my shirt, shit-rubber!"Saaaan-ji," he singsonged happily.  "You're the best. I've got the best cook in the whole world on my crew!"A/B/O/tober Day 17: Mating/claiming bites
Relationships: Monkey D. Luffy/Sanji
Series: A/B/O/tober 2020 [17]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1947415
Comments: 22
Kudos: 240
Collections: A/B/O/tober 2020





	Not Without Sanji

"It was fun while it lasted," Sanji said coldly, turning his back on the battered Luffy in a swirl of crimson. "But that's over now, and I'm taking my rightful place as a prince. Take your filthy pirate friends and _leave._ " 

Luffy stared after him, wheezing in pain, burns screaming in pain. Every fiber of his being screamed in rejection — screamed with the desire to rise, to strike out, to force Sanji to see who he was! This — this was not Sanji. This was not his cook, his nakama, the sweet-smelling, sour-speaking omega who fed him whenever he needed it. He tried to rise — tried to throw himself after Sanji again, to cling to him, to rub his scent onto Sanji like he had so many times before. Sanji was _his_ , his nakama, his cook, his mate. 

But he couldn't move. He'd fought the funny biscuit man and then turned right around and fought Sanji and he was _hungry_. Without food, his body wouldn't work. Without Sanji, he had no food. 

He couldn't reach after him. He could only scream. 

"Sanji! I'm gonna stay right here! I ain't moving and I ain't eating anything ever again unless it comes from your hands! If you don't come back, I'm gonna starve to death right here in this spot!"

* * *

Food mattered to Luffy. _Meat_ mattered. Most of Dadan's bandits had been too afraid of the jungle to hunt, and those who weren't afraid were the bold ones they needed the most for raids. No one hunted except for him, Ace, and Sabo. If there was meat to be had, it was because they'd worked for it. 

Then it was just him and Ace. They were a little older, a little stronger, but without their third, hunting was harder. Meat took more work. If they didn't have a good day hunting, or they didn't feel strong enough, or they got chased by their quarry instead of the other way around, then there would be no meat. Those days, they ate whatever sour veggies the bandits had managed to steal, or they foraged for grubs and mushrooms in the jungle and hoped nothing was poisonous. 

Then it was just him. He was much older and stronger, but he was only one alone. Any meat that passed his lips was meat he'd hunted by himself, caught and killed and dragged back to the hideout by his own strength. Any meat that any of the bandits ate — and their numbers had thinned as they aged, some dying, some getting too sick or too injured to keep stealing, some choosing to leave and go live on the outskirts of the city or one of the little villages in the interior. All hands were needed to steal, except for Luffy, who was their only hunter. All meat came from him, and all his catches had to be shared among everybody. 

Food mattered to Sanji too. Luffy could see it in him — saw it right at the start, when Sanji fed that starving guy in the headband. This blond with the funny eyebrow was the kind of person who would feed a hungry guy who couldn't pay or do _anything_ , but was there and hungry. That was all it took. That was what Sanji cared about. He was sassy and cursed a lot, but he _cared_. 

At that moment, Luffy knew Sanji had to be his. Knew it right down in his gut, just as deep as he'd known Zoro was going to be his, just how he'd known Ace would be his friend even when Ace was running away from him and telling him to go away. Instinct deep in his heart whispered to him in feelings and urges and intuitions, and it was never wrong. Sanji would be his.

* * *

Mating wasn't something Luffy was ever really interested in. Dadan had tried to have the same talk with him she'd had with Ace a couple years earlier — tried several times to have it, actually, only for him to get bored and fall asleep halfway through each time. All this nonsense about omegas and alphas and heats and knots was just… boring. He didn't want that stuff. Boys and girls, alphas and betas and omegas, they all just _were_ , and it made no difference to him. 

It had started to matter when he started gathering a crew. As soon as they'd received Merry, Nami had put a sign up on one of the storage room doors calling it a _cycle room_ , and declared a standing rule that anyone in heat or rut ought to go and stay in that room until it was over, so that they didn't stink up the place. It had seemed unnecessary to Luffy, but not long after they left Cocoyashi Village, with Nami now firmly one of them, Sanji had announced that they were on their own for food for a few days, and had locked himself in. 

Luffy hadn't liked that at all, and it had made him realize that his crew had needs he had to take care of. He was their captain. They were _his_. Taking care of them was part of that. If he wanted to say _captain's orders_ and have them listen to him, then he had to listen when they said, _captain_. 

And Sanji, especially. Luffy sat outside the cycle room door wondering vaguely if Sanji _really_ needed to be in there. Couldn't he cook for them and then go back in when he was done cooking? Luffy was hungry, and putting together his own sandwiches — especially with Nami and Zoro on either side of him, smacking his hands and head whenever they thought he took too much — felt like an echo of the last lonely years on Dawn Island, when any food he ate was food he caught for himself. 

It was the first inkling of understanding that he _needed_ Sanji, not just _wanted_ him. Without Sanji there to cook for them, that feeling of hunger and memory of scrabbling for his food clamped down around him hard. Sanji had to get better soon, because Luffy needed him.

* * *

Just how _much_ Luffy needed Sanji around became clear after their escape from Enies Lobby. Luffy slept and slept, and when he woke up, he felt a yawning hunger like he never had before, as though his whole insides had been hollowed out and he was an empty bag of skin that had to be filled. The others said he'd been eating in his sleep, but he didn't remember that, and didn't feel like it — he felt like he'd never eaten _ever_ , so weak and wobbly. He tried to stand up and barely could, as if weights were pressing him down all over. Food. He needed food. He needed _meat_! 

And there was Sanji, his Sanji, cooking up a storm, feeding him and feeding him and feeding him until that empty feeling went away and Luffy felt strong again. He ate and ate and ate, and Sanji never said _that's enough_ or _that's everything I made_ or _now you have to wait til snack time, greedy captain!_ He just nodded every time Luffy called for more, and kept cooking and serving. 

Finally, when the roaring emptiness was sated and Luffy felt his strength come back, he reached out and snagged Sanji around the waist, pulling him in close and rubbing his grease-covered cheek against Sanji's chest — ignoring the yelp of protest about _you're fucking up my shirt, shit-rubber!_

"Saaaan-ji," he singsonged happily. "You're the best. I've got the best cook in the whole world on my crew!" 

The protests and cursing choked off abruptly into a sputter that sounded a lot happier and more embarrassed, and Sanji cupped a hand around the back of Luffy's head, stirring fingers in his hair. "... Yes, captain," he said with an embarrassed sigh. "You know I'm not gonna let you go hungry, 'specially after all that." 

"I know. That's why you're the best."

* * *

Once again, Sanji was in heat, and once again, Luffy crouched outside the cycle room door, staring at it and smelling the wisps of warm-needy-sweet- _Sanji_ leaking around the door frame. He needed Sanji — he could feel it in his chest now, a certainty clicked into place in his understanding of the world. Without Sanji, he wouldn't have his food, and he wouldn't have his strength. And he had to be strong, because on the Grand Line there were always enemies, and they only got stronger. 

But right now, it was Sanji who needed Luffy, not the other way around. The scent that crept out around the door and filled Luffy's nostrils filled him with all kinds of new — not urges, exactly, because urges meant _do things_ and this wasn't makin him want to do things. It just made him _aware_ of things. 

Aware that Sanji was an omega — he'd known that, of course, but hadn't been aware of it. It hadn't mattered. Now it did. 

Aware that he was an alpha. That really hadn't mattered. He didn't even have proper ruts like everyone said he was supposed to. He just got extra lonely sometimes and wanted to cuddle with his favorite people, so he'd nap with Zoro or play with Usopp or watch Nami work on her maps or follow Sanji around the kitchen until Sanji stopped cleaning everything to a shine and groomed him instead. Alpha-ness was just something that _was_ , that didn't require any active participation on his part, like how his hair was brown. 

Now he could feel the difference. That scent filled his nostrils and made him feel alpha feelings. Made him aware that Sanji, his cook, the person who fed the roaring hunger in his belly, was an omega. Was an omega who needed an alpha, right now. 

Luffy pushed open the door.

* * *

Two years was a really long time. 

Luffy didn't regret his decision. He wasn't in the business of regret, and anyway, he needed to get stronger. They all did. He had the utmost faith that his comrades would all come back even better and cooler than they already were. But he missed them so much it ached right down in his bones. Missed Chopper's soft fur, missed Usopp's stories, missed napping together in the sun with Zoro, missed Franky and Robin and Brook and Nami and everyone. 

Missed Sanji most of all. Missed his cooking, missed the way he made _shitty_ and _stupid_ and _greedy_ sound like soft nice words even when he was grumbling or snapping. Missed Sanji's food. Missed curling up with Sanji the way he had during Sanji's heat. 

But there was no reason to mope! He was gonna get super strong, and his nakama would get super strong, and then they would all go to the New World together and no one would separate them ever again.

* * *

Luffy watched Sanji walk away from him of his own free will, and oh, it hurt. It _hurt_ , and that wasn't the beating Sanji had just inflicted on him or the lingering exhaustion from his earlier fight in the forest. No, it hurt because Sanji, _his_ Sanji, was walking away from him. 

"I'm gonna stay right here!" he shouted at the top of his lungs. "If you don't come back soon, it's gonna be the resting place of my shrivelled corpse! I'll starve to death right here!" That had to move Sanji. That _had_ to. He didn't let people starve. He _didn't_. It was as core to his being as loving freedom was to Luffy's. 

And yet, Sanji walked away from him. 

He wasn't doing it cause he wanted to. Luffy knew that like he knew his own name. He _knew_ Sanji was hurting way worse between them, knew that every burning kick landed on his body had only caused Sanji all the more pain. But Sanji was still _walking away_. 

"Sanji!" he shouted, pouring everything in him into his shout. "I can't become Pirate King without Sanji!" The words came from somewhere deep inside of him; he had never thought them before, never realized it before, but in the moment he said them, he knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that they were true. 

Sanji fed him. Sanji always fed him. Whether with a kick, a grumble, or a smile of pure joy, Sanji never told him _no_ when he was really hungry — at most he would say _in a little bit_ or _soon_. But Luffy needed to eat the way he did to stay alive, and Sanji would never, ever see him go hungry. Without Sanji, he wouldn't have the strength to do what he did. He could feel it in his bones; without Sanji, he could not carry forward. He could not become Pirate King. 

So, they couldn't have him. Luffy was going to stay here and he was going to wait and go hungrier than he'd ever been in his life, and eventually, Sanji would come back to him. He knew it. He knew it with every fiber of his being, poured every ounce of will he had into the certainty that it was true. He would _make_ it true. 

Then Big Mom's armies came flooding toward them, and he braced for his third fight of the day.

* * *

"Let me in," a familiar voice said, and Luffy perked up to see their helper from the chocolate island. "Pudding? Oi, Pudding! We went to the coast but you weren't there!" Nami snapped at him to be quiet, not to blab about Pudding's help when their jailor could overhear, but he just kept going, until… 

Until Pudding leaned down to murmur in his ear, and he caught Sanji's scent, sweet and savory with the familiar dark overtone of tobacco, hanging thick around her neck and shoulders. Pudding, an unfamiliar alpha, not a part of their crew… wearing _his_ Sanji's scent. 

"Can you smell it? He let me put my scent all over him," she murmured in his ear. "But do you know? I'm not going to marry him." For just a second, Luffy swam with confusion, the mingled scents of Pudding and Sanji punching a deep ache in his gut. She smelled like she'd already claimed him…? 

"...because he's a snot-nosed idiot who's so in love with me he can't even think," she continued on, and rage lit a fire in his chest. "Let me tell you a secret. I'm gonna shoot him during the ceremony. Right there in front of everyone — BAM! Right between those stupid curly eyebrows. But don't worry, you two will join him soon enough!" 

He didn't even think before he was flinging himself at her, roaring out a bellow of challenge that might or might not have involved actual words. He wasn't sure and didn't care. All he knew was he was gonna _kill her_ before he let her harm a hair on Sanji's head! Sanji was _his_ and she wasn't going to claim him or kill him and Luffy would see every single one of Big Mom's people lying on the ground at his feet before he let any of them hurt his precious nakama! 

But he was bound, and they'd known what they were doing when they tied him up, so Pudding could just trot out of range and leave him there to fling himself against the bars of their prison and howl his rage.

* * *

He was hungry. He was so very, very hungry. He'd fought and fought and fought, and he hadn't eaten anything since that guy's awful crackers that shouldn't even _count_. He was _empty_ inside like he'd never been before. But he wasn't gonna eat, because Sanji wasn't here, and he'd made a promise to his cook. No more food unless it came from Sanji's hands. 

Luffy dropped back down into the very same spot he'd been in a million years ago that afternoon, when Sanji had turned his back on him and he'd howled his promise to his cook and to the sky. 

"I gotta be right here," he mumbled to Nami. "Right here where I said I'd be. He's gotta know where to find me when he comes back." 

"Luffy," she said, and she sounded so sad and scared. He didn't want her to feel that way; she was his nakama too and he loved her. "I don't think he's coming back." 

"He's gonna," he said, firm and confident even though he felt like he was collapsing in on himself. So hungry… "He's gonna. I believe in him. He's coming." 

It was raining still, just like it had been when they fought Big Mom's army earlier. He remembered the rain had been candy when it had fallen while they were at sea, and he resolutely tipped his head forward, turning his face down so he didn't accidentally eat any of the rain. The rain was food and he wasn't going to take food from anyone but Sanji, not even the sky! 

He wanted Sanji to be there. He wanted them all to be back on _Sunny_ , Sanji back in the galley where he should be, where Luffy could come in and drape himself over Sanji's back and rub against his neck to scent him and distract him while Luffy filched from the pan. It didn't usually work but getting to scent Sanji was good even if he didn't manage to steal food at the same time. He was not gonna go back to an empty _Sunny_ with no Sanji. 

It was hard to smell anything through the sweet rain. Luffy liked sweet things, but he didn't like the rain — it was thick, sticky, heavy. He didn't want weird rain. He wanted Sanji. 

Eventually, he heard footsteps — squelching in the mud, slow and heavy and as tired as he was. It was hard to raise his head — he felt so _weak_! — but through the sugar-rain, he caught an elusive scent. Thready at first, thin and acrid, the sharp note of tobacco smoke was the first part of it that reached him. 

Lots of people smoked. But there was only one he expected here, and when he raised his head, he was already smiling. 

At Sanji. Sanji, soaked with the sticky rain, eyes downcast but carrying — 

Yes! 

Sanji set the bento down in front of Luffy, and somewhere, he found the strength to throw himself upon it, grabbing at the food and stuffing it into his mouth with a joyous laugh. 

"It's terrible," his cook ( _his!_ ) said, low and sad and heavy like the rain. "I dropped it on the way over. The rain's gotten in it. I didn't even know what I was doing when I made it." 

But Luffy laughed with delight, because Sanji had come back to him.

* * *

Finally, they'd gotten away from Whole Cake Island, and the _Thousand Sunny_ sailed through a bright, clear day that smelled like clean ocean air. There was no trace of sugar or chocolate or anything sweet at all. It was good. Refreshing. 

Sanji was in the galley, trying to make the best of Luffy's earlier attempts to cook. He'd gotten real mad when he'd first seen the damage, yelled and cursed at Luffy, but didn't raise a finger against him, not the way he would have before. Luffy saw it — saw an abortive start to an habitual kick that he immediately pulled back from, with guilt flickering dark in his eyes. 

They had to deal with that, but Luffy had been too tired yesterday. That fight with Katakuri had been really hard! But this was a new day, and he had slept well, and he had Sanji back again and now they needed to settle things properly. 

So he went into the galley, where none of the others were except Sanji. It was right to do this alone, just the two of them. 

"Sanji," he said, closing the galley door behind him. 

Sanji looked up at him. "Captain?" 

Luffy strode toward Sanji, quick steps that ended with pulling his cook into his arms, into a tight, clenching hug. " _My_ Sanji." 

For a moment, Sanji was tense against him, and Luffy could practically smell the guilt rolling off him. It had been thick in his scent ever since that awful fight, and it didn't belong there. Sanji shouldn't feel so guilty. He'd only done Sanji things, that was all — taken all the pain on himself. 

"I smelled you on Pudding," Luffy said. "She came an' talked to me. Said she was gonna kill you, but she had your scent all over her." He pulled back a little, just enough to look at Sanji, still holding him tight. "It pissed me off. I don't want anyone but our nakama to smell like you." 

"I'm sorry," Sanji said, and that guilt-smell got even thicker. "I thought… well, never mind what I thought. I thought a lot of really stupid things while I was there." 

It made Luffy laugh. "You got over it, though. You came back to me." That was what mattered. He leaned forward and rubbed his cheek firmly against Sanji's, pressing his smell into his cook's skin. "But I don't want anyone thinking they can take you away from me ever again. _Ever_ again." 

Sanji's answering laugh was shaky. "I don't think anyone's going to make that mistake. Not after how we left things back there." 

"No, more than that." Luffy nudged Sanji's cheek again, then looked into his eyes, serious and hopeful. "Sanji. I wanna bite you. Can I?" 

Sanji understood immediately, Luffy could tell. He wasn't talking about the play-bites they put on each other sometimes when Luffy was helping him through heat. He meant more than that. A matebite. A real claim, so that Sanji would be his for always and would always smell like him, no matter what. Everyone who met Sanji would know he was Luffy's. 

It was a lot. But people had tried to take Sanji away from Luffy, had tried to force him away, and he didn't want that ever again. 

"Yes." The word was quiet, but it wasn't soft — no, it was firm, full of meaning, heady. Right on its heels came a dazzling smile, as big as that smile all the way back when they first met. _Have you ever heard of the All Blue?_ Sanji had asked back then, and his smile had filled his whole face with joy. Now, again, he smiled, and Luffy grinned back at him. 

"Yes," Sanji said again, and his arms pulled tight around Luffy. "I'd like that a lot." 

Arm in arm, they headed down to _Sunny_ 's cycle room — Sanji wasn't in heat, but it was private, and this deserved privacy. Just the two of them. Once in the room, with the door shut firmly behind them, Luffy took his time in loosening Sanji's tie and sliding it off his neck — that felt right, too. A matebite wasn't a leash. Luffy was loosening the tight thing around Sanji's neck, freeing him from it. That felt good. Then he unbuttoned Sanji's shirt — just halfway, enough to slide it off his shoulder and bare that pale skin that smelled so very good. 

And then, feeling the meaning full and strong in his heart and his throat and his gut, he nuzzled Sanji's cheek, kissed him, and then bent his head to mouth lightly at that skin. "Mine," he murmured, and Sanji raised a hand to cradle the back of his head and stroke his hair, just how Luffy liked best. 

"Yours, Captain. Yours always." 

And then Luffy bit down, right into the crook of Sanji's neck where his scent was strong, bit until he tasted blood and heard Sanji groan in the mix of pleasure and pain. Ground his claim and his determination and his love into Sanji, and felt the mate claim settle into them both. It wasn't a leash, but it was a connection. They might be apart from each other in the future, but they woud always smell like each other, and would always feel each other. Luffy was Sanji's alpha now, and Sanji was Luffy's omega. If Sanji needed him, Luffy would know it and be there; if Luffy needed him, Sanji would know it and be there. 

Luffy held Sanji tight and tasted his blood and his scent, and pressed it into every part of him. 

Sanji was _his_ , and he would be Pirate King, because he would have Sanji beside him every step of the way, making sure he was strong and healthy. With Sanji, there was nothing he couldn't face.

**Author's Note:**

> Me, writing this fic while jamming half a pizza in my face: It's called getting in character, look it up
> 
> Come chat with me on my [Discord server](https://discord.gg/SWVYBBn)!


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